Determination of the fee

Married or unmarried persons living together and underage children of both parties who are also living in the same household are included in the family size.

The family income consists of the income of the parents (living together) and of the children who are included in the family size. Income means all taxable earnings, capital income and tax-exempt income. Holiday bonus of approximately five per cent is added to the earned income. If the family fails to submit their income statements, they will be charged the maximum fee.

The early childhood education fee is based on the day care hours stated in the day care application. The contract is made for a minimum period of three (3) months. The contract will not be amended for holiday periods.

For example, if your need for early childhood education is 20–35 h/week, you will be charged 75 per cent of the full payment.

Please remember to choose enough hours for your child.  If your child’s agreed number of day care hours is exceeded during a calendar month, the early childhood education fee will be raised to the higher payment class according to the used hours (the planned + used hours). The increased fee will be applied to the month when the hours were exceeded. If the limit for the lowest fee (27.00) is exceeded, the fee will be charged also for a child whose normal monthly fee is 0 euros.

Parents shall plan their child’s weekly day care hours in the Päikky system by 8:00 on the previous week’s Tuesday.

Apply for a change in the day care hours by using the client fee form. Submit the form to the early childhood education office. Discuss the change also in advance with your child’s day care unit.

When the need for day care hours changes, a new contract shall be drawn up and an administrative decision made on the early childhood education fee. The new contract is made for a minimum period of three (3) months.

*The gross income exceeding this income limit is used as the basis for the early childhood education fee.

If the size of your family is bigger than six, the income threshold for determining the fee is increased by 144 € for each additional underage child in the family.

Client fees are index-linked in accordance with section 16 of the Act on Client Fees in Early Childhood Education and Care. Index adjustments are made every two years. The next index adjustment will be made in 2022.

How to calculate an estimated client fee for early childhood education with over 35 h/week

(Family’s gross income – income limit) x fee percentage = client fee for early childhood education

Here is an example of calculating the client fee for a family of five.

The maximum fee for full-time early childhood education (over 35 h/week) is 288 € per child per month.

The lowest invoiceable fee per child is 27.00 €.

The family’s youngest child who is attending early childhood education is always counted as the family’s first child. When there are several children from the same family in early childhood education, the second child (in terms of age) in early childhood education will be charged a fee that is at most 50 percent of the fee of the youngest child.

For any other children, the charged fee is 20 per cent of the fee set for the youngest child in the family.